[time-nuts] PCB design questions thread II

[John Day]

At 08:04 PM 6/2/2008, you wrote:
>Personally I *hate* turning boards over and clipping leads.
>
>And I'd much rather layout SMD than T/H.

A man after my own heart. 0.5mm and even 0.4mm pin pitch is fine, QFN 
is doable, but takes patience sadly BGA is a bit beyond the pale for 
me right now until I get some more gear. Until I started the job I 
have now I hadn't done any PTH in nearly 15 years - and now I know 
why! And now I know why we have technicians to assemble prototypes, 
but none of them can outdo me for speed and accuracy on an 0.5mm PQFP FPGA.

If you are going to do a lot of SMT work by hand, then a good stereo 
microscope and a Metcal MX500 series iron are almost indispensable.

John